North Korea 'demanded $10 billion in cash and food' for summit with South

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gives a field guide during a winter river-crossing attack drill of the armored infantry sub-units of the motorized strike group in the western sector of the front of the Korean People's Army (KPA) in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang January 27, 2015. REUTERS/KCNA

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea demanded $10 billion (6.6 billion pounds) in cash and half a million tons of food in 2009 as a precondition of holding a summit with the South, former South Korean president Lee Myung-bak said, adding that he refused to pay anything for holding talks.

A predecessor, Kim Dae-jung, held the first summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in 2000 and was credited with bringing in a period of warming ties, an achievement that was tarnished later by a revelation that he helped channel $500 million to the North.